


Prayers for the Lost

by steampunkunicorn



Series: Tian and Garto [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, POV Female Character, POV Outsider, Post-Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Tatooine Slave Culture, Women Being Supportive, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24455341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steampunkunicorn/pseuds/steampunkunicorn
Summary: Six weeks after Shmi Skywalker's son is free, she is finally able to say goodbye.
Series: Tian and Garto [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762063
Comments: 4
Kudos: 99





	Prayers for the Lost

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed writing that first fic and my worldbuilding did not want to leave. I've always found Shmi to be an interesting character and her choices within her ability fascinating, despite Lucas's fridging. Rakkel's thoughts towards her may or may not be accurate, as she is looking at what has happened through the bias of an older sister, but I thought that an outside view towards these actions to have interesting potential. I have also included worldbuilding notes at the end.

Rakkel wandered in a loose, circling pattern. She might have been able to go directly to her destination, but too many years of being watched closely left habits hard to break. Still, it was the first time she had been in Mos Espa in nearly a year. She had completed her tasks as soon as she was able and was excited to use her free hours to reunite with her raised-together-sister and her raised-together-sister's born-of-her-blood-son.

Finally completing the last loop to the slave quarters, she pivoted to the correct door and knocked. Shmi would have been done with her work at this time of day, providing Watto hadn’t sent her to the desert for scrap.

Luck was on her side, as Shmi, her _hanje_ answered. Smiling at each other, Rakkel pulled her _hanje_ into a hug. From there, the two entered the home and Shmi began preparing _jurra_.

“My _Tato_ had business here and, given my knowledge of reputations here, I was brought along.” She answered Shmi’s questions. “He is about as pleasant as Watto, though with better business sense.” She had missed the ability to speak in daylight with the _Ankoon_ tongue. _Tato_ Jorda kept a closer eye on his property during the day, unfortunately. As such, slave language had to be saved for the cover of darkness in his household.

“How long until you are expected back?” Shmi couldn’t be thinking of arranging a _remando_ , could she? Not only was there not enough time, but Rakkel would be leaving soon. Anakin might not have even returned from Watto’s by the time she would be forced to return. Speaking of which...

“Two hours from now. Will Anakin be back before then?”

Shmi smiled sadly. “No. He was freed six weeks ago, taken to be trained by the Jedi. I was hoping that you would perform the prayers with me. I didn’t want to do them by myself and I am not sharing _jurra_ with anyone besides a few of the children.”

“I am sorry you do not have much family here. All the selling that had occurred recently...Mos Espa is beginning to feel deserted.” Rakkel had made many observations in her visit. The fact that focusing on the smaller number of slaves meant that she didn’t have to inform Shmi that she had sold her son into a gilding was a small reprieve. “If you wish me to, I will join you.”

With the matter settled, Rakkel finished her _jurra_ , the spices of it clawing her gut. At least the prayers for a sold relative were the same as those for a freedom granted. Rakkel didn’t know if she could lie to Tian and Garto. She might have done so to Riko or even the Walker-of-the-Skies (Riko’s forgiving nature would have eased her guilt and the Walker-of-the-Skies encouraged lying, whether against the Tato or to comfort the weak.) But Tian and Garto were the creators. And slaves were children of the Suns.

Rationalisation settled in her mind, Rakkel followed Shmi to the cleared area as they began. Shmi, being the closer relative, performed the opening move. Half a step behind her, Rakkel copied. And so began the dance of the missing. As the oldest in the group of two, Rakkel sung the opening of the prayer of best wishes. The verses traveled over the hopes of a better life, of peace and happiness, and of memories never forgotten. The soft melody always had the feeling of tragedy to her, though she did her best to keep her feelings neutral. Shmi had no such issue in her ignorance, inflecting joy into her voice.

The prayer came to a close after a half-hour and that led into their discussion of Anakin’s life.

It was at this point that Rakkel knew she couldn’t tell Shmi the truth, may the Gods forgive her for condemning another to ignorance. Shmi had always been soft-hearted. She was the kind of slave who would accept a gilding for herself and be thankful for it. To know that she did that to her son her heart, gave him to baby stealers, would break her. So, Rakkel did what she had done since they were children, when Shmi was first introduced to the life of a slave and Rakkel dried her tears. She comforted and protected Shmi, as was her duty as a sister.

With the prayer concluded, Rakkel talked of Anakin’s habit of questioning, of storytelling, of his fierce loyalty and silently prayed that the Jedi would understand and value their newest slave. And, despite herself, she hoped that the boy’s new masters would have a little of Riko’s love and kindness beyond the false promises that entice a gilding. She knew better than to ask for him to remain ignorant. Anakin was always too intelligent, too questioning, too passionate to ever let himself be ignorant.

And so, she saved her cries for the cover of night, muffled to avoid ire, wishing she had never returned to Mos Espa. Ignorance was a curse, a type of powerlessness, and something to be avoided at all costs. Knowing this, she still wished.

**Author's Note:**

> In my first fic, Anakin calls the slave's language the Slave's Heart language. This is because the one thing owners can't control is the ability to love and who they can love. As such, I could see Shmi naming her son "my heart," hence why I decided the language's nontranslated name would be similar to Anakin. Ank- or Anak- in the language literally translates to heart, love, passion, etc.  
> I also figured that, with the separation of birth families common in slavery and needing to connect, there would be different phrases for different relationships. I figure that there would be terms for blood family, adopted family, raised together for a while family, married into family, etc. so as to avoid confusion about relations that possibly end up romantic down the line. For example, hanje refers to an adopted sister where hantello refers to a blood sister.  
> Tato is the word for master/owner. This refers to some of the hinted at myths mentioned in my first fic. Yes, there will be a full telling of the story eventually. The basic idea is that when Tatooine became a desert, the suns were bound too close by a being called Tato. As such, all the slaves are bound to Tato. So, the word eventually became a general term for master/owner.  
> The short time in Phantom Menace spent with the slaves, we mainly see children. Yes, there are a few adults, as well, but there were still less than I would imagine for a settlement. Then there's the fact that Watto would gamble Anakin, even with possible bad business sense, was still a dumb move on his part. So, either the prize money was enough to buy five new Anakins or the economy is bad at the moment. I decided to go with the latter.  
> I've tried to be original in my worldbuilding, but there are a few overlaps in my attempts with others', especially Fialleril. For that, I apologise and will try to give credit where it is due.  
> Jurra is the cheese created from the blue milk on Tatooine. Since we only ever see blue milk as milk, I like to imagine that slaves use it to make cheese. The overlap that I mentioned is the fact that every slave makes their jurra different from the others and only share with those considered family. This is similar to the usage of Tzai in other fics.  
> The term gilding is a more obvious overlap. The idea is that, instead of freedom, a slave is given an option that sounds like potential freedom, but is really just a nicer version of bondage. This includes freeing a slave to marry them and giving your kid to the Jedi.  
> Because of Rakkel being a bit more traveled than Shmi, she has heard more stories about the Jedi and a lot of them are unflattering. After all, when you take a kid from their family, don't let them see them, discourage them from forming attachments, and refuse to train someone because they're old enough to remember their parents, it can seem a lot like slavery and indoctrination to a person.  
> Finally, ignorance is viewed as a curse among the slaves. To know something is one of the only kinds of powers a slave has. They are used to the harsh truths of the world. They are able to learn because people don't see them as threats, so secrets are their currency. To not know how to do something could mean death. Knowledge and secrets are seen as creeds of their entire belief system. So, Rakkel protecting Shmi from what she sees as the truth is the ultimate blasphemy to her. She sees herself as dooming her adopted sister in her need to protect her. Maybe one day she'll tell the truth, but that is not this day.


End file.
